Museo Historia Automocion da Salamanca, (E)

Although interest both in things automotive and history in general shows no sign of decline, the challenges facing a museum operator have rarely been greater, and many of the smaller museum have, in recent years, reluctantly had to close their doors and sell their assets. Only the advent of the manufacturer supported museum has gone against this trend, or so I thought. However, when planning a recent visit to the delightful Castillian city of Salamanca, north west of Madrid, I had a vague recollection that since my previous visit there nearly 10 years ago, a car museum had opened up. A bit of googling revealed that there is indeed just such a museum, and that provided I got there before the rather lengthy afternoon siesta time, I should be able to go and see what treasures lay within. The Museo Historia Automocion da Salamanca is situated on the southern edge of the city, in a new building, with some on street parking in the surrounding roads. A couple of judiciously placed sign posts pointed me in the right direction for the last couple of hundred metres, and I found myself at the entrance hall. Admission costs a meagre €3, but you do have to pay a further €1 for a photographer’s pass. Lighting on the ground floor is quite dim, so I apologise now for the rather dark photos at the start of this report, but they do get better. The display signs are only in Spanish, but I was able to understand enough to get the gist of what was being described. What I found was a varied collection of exhibits, some more familiar than others.

It seems that just about every car museum, the world over, has one of these, a replica of the 1886 Benz Patent Motorwagen in which, a couple of years later, and without telling her husband, Frau Bertha Benz drove herself and her two sons from Mannheim to Pforzheim, a distance of 106km and effectively the first long distance car journey.

Even after this, early cars were still experimenting with form, as these vehicles illustrate.
1902 Renault Model G 6HP
An 1899 De Dion Bouton 3.5 hp
Even by 1905, the date of this Renault, some “house style” was starting to become evident, and the distinctive scuttle-mounted radiator was to feature in Renault models for a number of years.
1908 Daimler 20HP
1910 Hispano-Suiza 30 -40 HP
1920 Theophile Schneider 14/16 HP
A 1922 Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost
Hispano Suiza was an expensive car in its day, as these two models evidence. The white one is a 1922 16HP model.
Few people could afford such a luxury, and so light cars such as these Amilcar and the Berliet became popular in the 1920s.
A 1922 Citroen 5CV, sometimes nicknamed the “Cloverleaf”.
Model T Ford and its successor, the 1928 Model A
1933 Citroen C4 Rosalie
A pair of American de Sotos: a 1932 and 1935 car. The former, a Six-56 Sedan  and the latter an Airstream 5 Sedan.
This is a late model Traction Avant Citroen, a 1953 11B car.
A 1935 DKW Meisterklasse. This was a front wheel drive car, from a marque that became part of the Auto Union, nowadays known as Audi.
This W142 Mercedes 320 Cabriolet dates from 1938.
1938 Fiat 1100
Just before car production ceased thanks to world war hostilities, America was producing cars like this 1940 Buick Eight Super Four Door, Type 51-C
After the war,demand in Europe was mainly for much smaller cars, and Fiat responded by updating the 500 Topolino model with this version, the 500C. This example dates from 1949.
Believe it or not, this is a 1946 Rolls Royce Silver Wraith, with a particularly unusual body designed by the Spanish coachbuilder Serra.
There were a couple of Pegaso Z-102 cars. These were produced in Spain in very small quantities between 1951 and 1958 by a company better known for making trucks and coaches. They were very expensive when new and thanks to their rarity are worth a lot of money now. Everything was produced in-house in Barcelona, except the bodies which were designed and built by a number of different styling houses. The black car sports a body designed by Saoutchik, and the red one by Serra. The cars featured a 4 cam all-alloy V8 engine, initially of 2.5 litre capacity, but later enlarged to 2.8 litres and further extended to 3.2 for the last cars.  
The Seat 600, a locally produced version of the Fiat model, was the car that “put Spain on wheels”. On sale for far longer than its Italian progenitor, there are still a number of these cars to be seen especially in the more rural parts of the country.
1958 Auto-Union 1000S, a development of the DKW 3-6 car, a sports saloon with a 2 stroke engine.
The 1954 Wolseley 4/440 was a close relative of the better known MG Magnette, with a smaller engine and consequently rather lesser performance.
1955 Studebaker Champion 6
1966 Peugeot 404 Convertible
Early Jaguar 3.4, dating from 1958
1952 Cadillac 62 Series convertible
This Seat 1500 was popular as a taxi in Spain for many years
Ferrari 308 GTB
Chevrolet Corvette
The 1960 Vanden Plas Princess 3.0 was a luxury version of the Austin Westminster. Later models were fitted with a 4 litre Rolls-Royce engine.
1973 Porsche 911T
1989 Mercedes 500SL
One of the last of the line, a 1974 Citroen DS23 Pallas
Series 1 Jaguar XJ6 4.2
This concept Jav X was shown at the 2005 Geneva Show. Although well received, it did not enter production.
Various attempts have been made to resurrect the Hispano Suiza brand, and these design studies were all featured at the Geneva Show within the past 10 years or so. Perhaps rather fortunately, none of them made production.
Centrepiece of the display on the top floor of the musuem were a collection of Model T Fords, showing the evolution of the design including a 1911 Speedster and a 1920 Runabout model
1954 Muntz Jet
1932 Ford V8
1930 Buick Series 60
1927 Chrysler Imperial
1924 Samson
There was also a display of motor-sport related vehicles, each with a connection with Spain.
Early MG Midget
A further display area on the upper floor contained a couple of Citroens. There was this, a 1929 C6 model
This looked like an Ami, but I was surprised to learn that for the Spanish market, the badging was changed and the car was called C-8, and the estate model was called Familiar. There were minor differences to the car so the cognoscenti could doubtless tell it apart from the French made cars anyway.
As I was finishing my car, this car was wheeled in. It is a Seat 800, a special Spanish evolution of the iconic 600, with a longer wheelbase to accommodate the 4 doors. The Spanish Seat 800 club was having a meeting at the museum, and an area had been reserved outside the building, although there were only 4 cars there when I left.     
Definitely worth a visit if you are in the area. And the area itself is worth visiting. Salamanca has much to commend it, with a particularly impressive central square, and it is not far to Avila and Segovia, which are also delightful and ancient towns.
2011-07-05 16:37:45

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